Olivius suddenly starts whispering a steady stream of curses under his breath. By the time he has successfully disarmed the trap (bending his tool in the process) he has cursed most of creation and its various mothers.
However, Success!
He pulls the tool out from under the door and examines it's bent condition. He sighs party in relief and partly at the inconvenience of it all. That's going to be awkward to use until I can get it fixed...
Good work Olivius, Dambreth says with grudging respect in his voice. So, is it safe to proceed?
The question on his mind having already been spoken, Hawke waits for a reply.
The Door is safe, yes. However there are more traps in there still, so don't wander.
Olivius sneakily opens the door and searches carefully for more traps. He examines every loose looking stone, every bookshelf, high and low. It's a long process, but necessary to ensure that he misses nothing.
Olivius creeps silently into the room beyond. The first thing he notices is how high the ceiling is. It's vaulted in here, and the arched roof above is high enough that you have to strain your neck to see it entirely.
Next thing you notice are the bookshelves flanking the central stairs. They're also enormous, containing more books in one place than you have ever seen before, even in your father's ostentatious personal libraries.
Olivius glances side to side warily, but sees no evidence of the harpies. All is silent. Suspiciously, the thief checks the bookshelves. Sometimes traps can be triggered at head-level, he reasons to himself.
However, the monks were ready for him. As Olivius checks the bookcases, the monks hidden between the bookshelves and the walls brace themselves and shove hard with their legs. The books suddenly start sliding off the shelves toward you, and before you can dodge out of the way, the bookshelf falls on you! Take damage, and you are pinned beneath the bookshelf's weight.
The rest of you see this happen through the doorway and then see several monks as well as a few hidden harpies emerge from hiding in the library, closing in on Olivius' position. What do you do?
Hawke will jump at the opportunity to repay a debt. Dropping the crossbow he had readied at the door, he'll rush in to try and lift the bookshelf so that Olivius and get away.
*It doesn't take a very long time
*Nothing of value is damaged
Leaping to his comrade's aid, Hawke manages to lift the heavy oak bookshelf off of him! 3 Harpies emerge from the upper ceilings of the library and stoop, diving toward the fighter! Meanwhile, 4 monks emerge from their hiding places behind the bookshelves and rush you!
Hawke, you're forced to hold the bookshelf up in order to give Olivius the space to crawl out, but you're being fired at by crossbows. You can either:
Continue lifting the bookshelf long enough for Olivius to escape, but take 1d6+2 damage from the 2 crossbowmen.
OR
Drop the bookshelf on Olivius to dodge out of the way, causing Olivius to take 1d6 damage and become pinned again.
Hawke will attempt to lift the bookshelf into the line of the bolts.
Hawke glances up to see the monks sighting down their crossbow bolts at him, preparing to fire. His eyes widen and his wild hair whips about him as he kneels quickly and uses his legs, shoving the heavy bookshelf into the way!
Hawke, you now have a good grip on the bookshelf and it's relatively easy to keep it held aloft. There are bolts sticking through the back of the bookcase and you feel impacts as the harpies scrabble along the other side to get up and over at you.
What do you do?
Hawke will push with all his might while yelling for the others to lend him a hand as he attempts to push the shelf back over on top of the monks and harpies.
"It is a library, there are some windows around to the sides. But as I said, high and narrow."
Sinathel, as the others moved to enter the room, took the time to shift again. Her skin turned dark before she was covered in a coat of fur, her muscles grew and her form shifted. Her arms lengthened and she her whole form grew, becoming hulking. As the final form of her shift took hold, Sinathel's bright green eyes look out of the face of a gorilla. A massive gorilla.
Sinathel let out a loud roar, rushing in after the others. Grabbing one of the bookshelves, perhaps even the one Hawke is attacking with, she throws it at the harpies and monks. If they get trapped under the bookshelf, even better. Extra bonus, destroying some, if not all, of this horrific showcasing of dead trees!
Hurl Heavy Object Throw a heavy object at an enemy, dealing damage based on the object.
Smash Do your class damage.
Olivius was looking for traps, not ambushes. As the shelf falls, he has just enough time to protect his head before his is crushed under hundreds of pounds of paper and wood. At first, for now, everything seems ok. That's probably the adrenaline.
After a moment the bookshelf lifts enough for him to scramble out from beneath, then the bookshelf disappears entirely and goes flying off at his attackers!
He scrambles to his feet and lets a dagger fall into his palm. There would be time for thanks later. Now was time for battle.
He dashes around a nearby bookcase, trying to make himself scarce. If the foes don't know where he is, there is a greater chance he can cripple them with a single blow to the back.
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Once he's out of line of sight with the harpies and monks, Olivius suddenly stops short in his tracks. Had an Ape thrown that bookshelf? He looks back over his shoulder.
Yes, yes it had...
As the bookshelf goes flying at the foes, a blur follows in its wake as Scram hurls himself at the closest Harpy leaping high into the air to sink his claws and fangs into the ugly beast. Dambreth leaps into the room following his friend and lets an arrow fly at the same target.
Hawke struggles to heave the bookcase at his enemies, but the two harpies on the other side laugh together and shove the bookcase down harder with their legs. Their screeching laughter seeps into his brain painfully, causing damage, ignores armor. The fighter gets quite a shock when he glances around and sees Sinathel the gorilla barreling down on him, and gets out of the way. The gorilla grunts as she heaves the bookcase up the library staircase, crushing two harpies beneath it and dealing to both of them. The hens immediately begin squawking at the monks to get them out, and two of them fall back to assist their masters.
Meanwhile, Scram leaps up on the shelves, his enormous claws and heavy body weight tearing the edges of the shelves loose. The big cat pushes off the bookcase and vaults into the air toward the third, unharmed harpy...but she had already flown too high by the time the cat leaped. Dambreth fires an arrow, but the harpy narrows her eyes and the arrow snaps in midair before it can reach the target. The two arrow halves hang in the air for a moment, then fall.
Dambreth was paying too close attention to his target! As he looses his arrow, a pair of strong arms encircles the ranger's torso, pinning his arms to his side! His bow is knocked loose and goes skittering across the floor, and he's being grappled! Si-yi, what do you do?!
3 harpies (2 pinned) 4 monks (2 assisting the harpies, 1 grappling Dambreth, 1 sort of defending the 2 assisting the harpies). None of the harpies are shouting royal demands at you or wearing unusually ostentatious jewelry, so you see no obvious signs of the harpy matriarch present.
Dambreth twists and turns trying to free himself from the monk.
He then drops his bow and pulling his short spear stabs at the monk even as Scram scrambles back to rip at the monk.
Dambreth's spear distracts the monk as Scram leaps onto his back raking the monk with his powerful claws.
Hawke pulls his recently acquired club from his back and charges at the monk attempting to guard the others. He attempts to swing in such a manner that he'll force the monk back on top of the book case that the others are trying to pick up.
Olivius flanks Hawke in the shadows, running from bookcase to bookcase. Using the distraction that Hawke so conviently provides, he dashes up to a distracted monk trying to lift the case and attempts to stab him in the back.
- +1d6 damage
Dambreth displays the agility inherent to elvenkind when he easily gives the monk the slip despite the monk's years of training. After a few moments of struggle, he eludes him. With a whirling leap, the ranger withdraws to a safe distance and readies his spear in the same action. Then, when he sees that he and Scram are of like mind, the two dart in from two angles at once at the monk. The monk - especially mind-addled as he is - can't defend against two attacks at once. Dambreth hits high, Scram hits low, and the monk is taken out of the fight with one clean stab of the ranger's shortspear.
Meanwhile, Hawke withdraws one of the weapons from his personal armory and charges up the steps. He viciously swings his club and it smacks the defending monk in the face, spinning him partially around as he flies backward and lands heavily on the bookshelf, preventing the other monks from lifting it cleanly off their masters. The monk starts struggling to rise and get back to his feet immediately, bloodied but ready for more.
Olivius' keen mind takes in his surroundings quickly. To the thief, a row of bookcases is as reliable a way to get around as a highway. He somersaults up onto one of them and darts along the walls, moving from shadow to shadow, and finally emerges to stab the monk in a defenseless spot. The monk crumples like a puppet with its strings cut, and the other monk whirls to engage you, dropping the bookshelf completely. The monk whips his nunchaku at you, what do you do?
You hear the crushed harpies below the bookcase scream and cry out for help. Olivius, you feel your mind beginning to fog over even as you attempt to dodge the monk's strike - you'll need to Defy Danger (int) to resist the mental attacks before you can engage the nunchaku-wielding monk.
Hawke, your mind is under similar assault. You feel a compulsion to Bend Bars Lift Gates that bookshelf out of the way so those poor hens can escape.
Meanwhile, the third harpy divebombs Dambreth and rakes at him with her claws! What do you do?
As Hawke feels urges that he has no intention of following, he attempts to fight back against the compulsion...
...unfortunately, this time his mind is unable to resist the mental command so he drops the club and attempts to lift the bookcase from off of the harpies...
Sinathel grabs another bookcase and chucks it at the flying Harpy aiming for her cousin along with a Gorilla roar, dealing . She then proceeds to go stand atop the bookcase the other two harpies are under. 'Perhaps this will quiet their squawking.'
Instantly upon feeling the mental intrustion Olivius's mind folds in on itself in an attempt to bottle up any thought or emotion and present a solid, smooth wall for the Harpy's attacks.
Having fended off most of the attack for now, Olivius ducks under the nunchaku and dives past the monk toward the helpless Harpys. he rolls and comes out beside the nearer of the two.
There is no hesitation in his stab. He uses the roll's momentum to amplify his coup de grace and drives his rapier home.
Dambreth easily eludes the Harpy's attack rolling out of the way and then comes up with his spear stabbing for the Harpy's back as at the same time Scram leaps at the same Harpy attempting to get his claws on it to drag it to the ground.
Unfortunately neither Scram or Dambreth are able to score a hit on the big, ugly bird thing.
Hawke's not able to completely block out the harpies' influence on his mind. However, his mental struggling weakens his body's muscles, and he's secretly thankful that he's unable to lift the bookcase off of his "masters".
However as Hawke straightens from the lifting attempt, his right foot sinks slightly lower than his left. Looking down, he realizes that in his mental stupor, he missed a trap that Olivius didn't get the chance to disable. With a twang, hidden cords wrap around his feet and wrists and yank him sideways, pinning him against the wall. What do you do?
Sinathel, meanwhile, hefts another bookcase and throws it skyward at the flying harpy attacking Dambreth. She connects, but only clips the harpy's wing (explaining doing only 2 damage). The bookshelf continues on its trajectory and shatters against the wall right next to Dambreth.
The gorilla's positioning leaves her open to attack. Right when Hawke is yanked away, the one remaining monk who was trying to lift the bookcase attacks the gorilla as well as Olivius with the whirling nunchaku. What do you do?
Olivius is able to resist the mental compulsion, mostly, but I gain hold 1 over you. The harpies left behind a little psionic gateway in your mind - other harpies can spend that 1 hold to make you sacrifice your action and stand there dazed.
Olivius dodges the worst of the attacks, but gets clipped by a backswing. Take damage from the nunchaku. The harpies' heads can be seen, gasping for breath as the gorilla crushes the life out of them via the bookcase. Olivius makes a daring stab with his rapier...crunch....and stabs into the bookcase itself. Your rapier is stuck there until you spend enough time to work it loose, which will be dangerous in combat.
Dambreth manages to dodge the harpy's attack, but the shattering bookcase on the wall near him distracts him. His wild and off-balance counterattack leaves him open, and the harpy capitalizes on it. She's not able to get her talons into your skin, but she does manage to cut the strap that holds your armor to your chest. -1 armor ongoing until you can repair your gear. The harpy jeers at you, her wing looking damaged by the impact with the bookcase, and moves constantly to avoid Scram's angry swipes.
The Harpy grows overconfident in her ability to dodge Scram's swipes not realizing that he's not an average cougar...Scram fakes another swipe and then with perfect timing leaps upward and grabs the Harpy's leg with his teeth, swinging his head around in a arc which draws the Harpy's body along in a path that intersects Dambreth's stabbing spear point.
Olivius is in trouble, and he knows it. He scrambles backward, desperately disengaging from the Melee on the Bookcase.
Hawke, suddenly having found himself pinned by his feet to a wall some distance away from where he was moments ago, will pull his axe from his back and attempt to cut the cord with it...
Sinathel clasping her fists together, lifts them before she slams them down hard, slamming, and likely smashing, the monks head.
The weight lessons on top of the harpies as her form reverts back to her elven form. But this is not to last, for soon, her skin turns orange, followed quickly by black stripes. Her teeth sharpen and whiskers appear out of her cheeks. Soon the color on her skin has turned to fur, her braid has followed her spine and lengthened, forming a long thin tail. She crouches on all fours, claws forming where her fingers used too. Her nose and mouth elongate to allow for her new massive sharp teeth an her size grows as she bulks up with muscles. With a snarling roar, she lets those harpies under her and those still living monks who is queen of the jungle. And it's not the lion...
Si-Yi suddenly realizes that Olivius is not faring well against the harpies. Not well at all. If he doesn't do something quick, then the thief is dead... And who would then be sent first to all the dirty and dangerous-looking places?
The barbarian rushes to interpose himself between the harpies and Olivius, twirling his sword in a defensive manner. "I will not let you pass, you oversized ugly chickens!"
...But before the harpies even try to pass, he stumbles into a piece of bookcase lying in the ground, barely managing to stay standing, yet alone defend anyone.
Scram and Dembrath make short work of the harpy attacking them. The two of them work seamlessly together and the harpy by herself is simply no match for them working as one. Dembrath pulls his spear free of the dead she-bird.
Sinathel, you gain the following tiger moves:
Intimidating Roar
Tear to Shreds
Sinathel's gorilla fist punches the monk hard. The human wavers, but his attention is focused on Olivius, as he detects weakness coming from the battered thief.
The elf druid is shifting as rapidly as she can, seeing how Olivius is desperately fighting for his life. Hawke, too, struggles, for his battleaxe is too large and unwieldy to use when pinned like he is. He succeeds in getting a grip on his axe haft, but with his wrist bound he can't take it out from his back.
The monk attacking Olivius, seeing him falter, leaps forward and strikes with a double downward smash of both nunchaku!
Si-yi, your shouted challenge turns into a despairing cry as you realize you are too late. The nunchaku strike as one, smashing across Olivius' face. He crumples to the floor lifelessly.
Olivius, you have crossed the threshold of life and death. You no longer see your attacker. You are no longer in a monastery of any kind. Before you lies a blackened and lifeless landscape - the realm of Death. Bleak is Death's Kingdom, where no life may grow and nothing dead may pass away. You see dead trees all around you, and bleached skeletons in positions of desperate supplication and fear.
Before you stands the terrifying figure of Death Itself. The robed and cowled figure towers over you at well over 7 feet. In His hands sit a tome, and a skeletal finger slowly flips the pages. Though you see no face underneath His cowl, you can feel His gaze on your skin, giving you goosebumps.
Roll 2d6+nothing.
Hawke, finding himself unable to draw his great axe, decides to draw forth another one of his newly acquired weapons. Quickly he pulls forth the temple sword and lashes out at the cord, eager to rejoin the battle...
It's awkward, but with a little sawing, you're able to free yourself.
Having freed himself from the trap, Hawke will make his way back up onto his feet and rush back to the fight.
'Guess he was just prey. That doesn't mean you are getting away with this!'
Sinathel rears up on her hind paws, using her tail to help her balance. She spreads her front paws to extend her deadly claws. Reaching, she pulls the monk whose head she had tried to split open with her gorilla fists towards her, ripping him open. He is her new toy, and she plays with him as a cat would with a mouse, tossing him into the air, ripping him to pieces, making him her newest chew toy.